In a system which communicates a high quality still video image over a narrow bandwidth communication channel, such as a dial-up telephone line, it is desirable to first capture the still video image as digital data and store it in a frame store memory and then compress the data prior to transmission, in order to transmit the image within a reasonable amount of time. The invention is directed to video communication systems capable of transmitting for example) 512 horizontal lines of full quality color NTSC-compatible video data within about one minute over a standard dial-up telephone line. The goal of reducing the transmission time for each video frame to just one minute requires a solution to a seemingly intractable technical problem. It is solved in the manner described in copending patent application serial number (unknown) filed (herewith) by Vincent Roche and Rocco Porcellio and entitled Dual Block Still Video Compander Transceiver.